To Infinity and Beyond: Sofia Santos OSINT Exercise #015
Hello friends, welcome to another Sofia Santos OSINT exercise/challenge write-up.
Task briefing:
The image below is a screenshot taken from a CIA declassified document. It depicts a caption report of an undisclosed photo taken by an agent. The text mentions a telescope “being assembled at factory“.
Your task is to find:a) A photo that matches the description on the caption report.
b) The exact location of where the telescope was placed once completed.
Click here to open the image on a new window.
CIA declassified document
The text in the declassified document says:
Country: Berlin - Province: Berlin - Place: Berlin
Geographic Coordinates: 52 31 N 13 24 E
Telescope, built at the Askania Factory for the University of Bonn [being assembled at the factory] the field is 20 times the size of the Mount Palomar Telescope; the camera is 20 feet; weight 3 tons. Stars of the 23rd size can be seen.
Date of Picture: Jan 18, 1953
If the coordinates are confirmed it can be seen that they refer to Berlin’s latitude and longitude by just one number off.
More information about this telescope can be found through googling “Askania Factory telescope Univeristy of Bonn 1953”. A photo found in IMAGO of the telescope matches the description in the declassified document.
A photo of the telescope after it was taken to the Bonn observatory can also be found in the results page in the website astronomicalheritage.net.
Not only can we see that the telescope is a match through the image description of it being from “Askania of Berlin” and the close date of 1954, but it can also be seen that the telescope has a close physical resemblance to the photo of it being built in the Askania Factory.
It can also be learned from this that the telescope is a 35/50-cm-Schmidt Telescope and it is located in the “Hoher List, Tower 1”.
Now from confirming the picture of the telescope and getting a clue about its name, the observatory that it is located in and that it is in Tower 1 we can move onto finding the exact location and answering question b.
Schmidt Telescope Location, Where is Tower 1?
I googled the name of the telescope and its location to see if I could find more specific information about it. Through looking up “34/50-cm-Schmidt Telescope hoher list”, the hoher-list.de website was found and a page outlining the history of the observatory was included.
This web page outlines some interesting points to note that will help with identifying Tower 1:
Three observation towers are in the main building, it was built between 1950-1954, matching when the Schmidt telescope was placed in the observatory.
The Schmidt telescope was the first major instrument to be acquired.
The picture description outlines the location of the main building with the three towers.
The main building (the one with the three towers) was the first structure to be built. Thus, driving the point that the Schmidt telescope is located in the main building in one of the three towers.
On the website we also get another picture of the Schmidt Telescope with a glow-up and new paint (right), and can further confirm that this indeed is the telescope that we are trying to locate :).
At the bottom of the page there is a link to a gallery and the original report of the building process can also be downloaded.
First, the report was read.
The first observation tower "Tower 3" in March 1953
In October, the company J.Heringer delivered the large dome for "Tower l" was delivered and installed by the 23rd of the month. Already three days later, a Schmidt telescope from Askania Werke arrived from Berlin and installation began immediately. The dome of "Tower 2" was completed on 30.10.1953.
The report details that the first tower to be completed was Tower 3. It also confirms that the Schmidt Telescope was installed in Tower 1 a few days after it was built. Tower 1 is also described as a ‘large dome’.
As we had wished and expected, the planning for the observatory continued. As early as January 1953, a finished construction design, in which, according to the model, "Tower 2" was located behind the institute building, which was not very appealing to us, but had to be accepted as a tribute to the architects.
The written report informs that Tower 2 was in the back of the building and could not be seen from the front. Based on this information we can compare the sketch of the main building in the report and match it with the satellite view of the main building. From the satellite view, the path to the entrance and the front of the building can be seen, there is only one tower in the back, so it can be hinted that this is Tower 2.
Furthermore, this information can be confirmed through checking the pictures in the gallery for the observatory.
Dome assembly on tower #2, tower #3 in the background.
Tower #1 with dome in the background, tower #2 in the foreground, with the main building in between.
From these two pictures it can be inferred that Tower 2 is between Tower 3 and Tower 1, which confirms that Tower 2 is the one in the back of the building. Now each tower can be appropriately labeled and identified.
It can also be certified that the tower in the far left corner is Tower 1 through the picture posted in the astronomicalheritage.net website. It is a tower with exposed brick, and a grey/silver top. The hallway that connects it to the main building is also made of exposed brick. In front of the main building we can see benches in front of the structure and orange shutters in the main part of the building.
If we cross reference this image with a video posted by PM STUDIOS, Pfingstmann & Mayer GbR, a detailed aerial shot can be seen.
Through this aerial shot it can be seen that the building in the far left corner is Tower 1. The overall building style fits with the tower picture in the astronomicalheritage.net website.as, with the exposed brick, benches and orange shutters. It also matches the positioning of the tower in the gallery descriptions and in the satellite view, by being the largest tower and in the far left.
Answer to question b: the approximate coordinates of Tower 1 are: 50.1618349556, 6.84832168193
…and with this the write-up is concluded, thank you so much for making it this far. Much peace and love.
